Baltimore, MD

While many of Baltimore’s biggest tourist attractions can be found at the Inner Harbor, the rest of “Charm City,” an hour’s drive or train ride from Washington, D.C., offers a good deal to do as well.

Art lovers will enjoy the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) and the American Visionary Art Museum. The BMA is particularly strong in modern and contemporary art, with more than 500 works by Matisse alone in its modern collection, along with masterpieces by Cezanne, Gauguin, van Gogh, and Gris, and an entire wing devoted to contemporary works by Jackson Pollack, Bruce Nauman, Andy Warhol, Willem de Kooning, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Jasper Johns, Barbara Kruger, and Frank Stella, among many others.

The American Visionary Art Museum, number one on Travel and Leisure magazine’s list of “Top 10 Places to See Before You’re 10,” showcases outsider art: pieces made by self-taught creators outside of the artistic mainstream. Don’t miss their bizarre collection of mechanized sculptures or their mega-exhibition “The Marriage of Art, Science and Philosophy,” which draws together more than 100 artists, scientists, inventors, and philosophers.

Baseball fans should make sure to catch a game at Camden Yards, the beautiful brick-walled stadium whose construction in 1992 kicked off the retro craze that brought old-style ballparks to many other cities during the 1990s. For game food, be sure to try the pit beef at Boog’s Barbecue, owned by former Orioles first baseman Boog Powell. If you can get there early, visit Geppi’s Entertainment Museum, devoted to the history of American pop culture, with galleries on pioneer toys, comic books, the early days of comic strips, the early days of television, and more.

Not far away is the B&O Railroad Museum, home to the “oldest, most historic, and most comprehensive American railroad collections in the world.” There you’ll see locomotives, cars, buildings, and equipment from the famous old Baltimore and Ohio Railroad –America’s first.You can also take a ride on the historic rails.

Finally, for dinner or drinks at the end of the day, head over to Fell’s Point, where the cobbled streets are lined with restaurants and hopping bars.

Travel Information

Baltimore, MD

Metrorail: On weekdays, you can take the MARC train from Union Station in Washington, D.C. to Penn Station in Baltimore for 50 minutes each way, or to Camden Yards (which is closer) for the same price in about an hour and ten minutes.